ALBANY COUNTY — Elizabeth Whalen, Albany County’s health commissioner, said at Tuesday’s press briefing that her department has heard from area hospitals that the number of visits they are receiving for heart attacks, strokes, and other emergencies are “not what they normally are.”

She said, for such emergencies, “Hospitals are still the best place for care … Please do not try to tough things out at home.”

Similarly, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy said on Tuesday that a record number of people are “dying at home because they’re afraid to go to the hospital.

He urged, “Don’t be scared to go to the hospital.”

Also on Tuesday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that elective outpatient treatments can resume in counties and hospitals without significant risk of COVID-19 surge in the near term.

However, he listed Albany County among the mostly downstate counties that will not be able to resume elective outpatient treatments on April 28.